When researching the life of Senator Joseph Silver Collings (1865-1955), Minister for the Interior in the wartime Curtin administration, the diaries of Gavin Long, Bean's successor as Official Historian of Australia at War, and the minutes of the Australian War Memorial (AWM) Committee for which Collings, as Minister, was responsible, were examined. They reveal an odd episode which throws light on patronage, conservative assumptions and power. The travails of Dr Gregory Pemberton and Ms Ann-Mari Jordens over the Official History of Australia's involvement in the Vietnam war (for which no State-sponsored domestic social history yet exists), the acerbic yet penetrating work of Denis Winter, as well as the whole problem of researching, writing and producing 'official history' are well known to scholars. Yet often these issues are frequently ignored by those seeking and granting official largesse and approval.1 Even less well known is the selection process whereby editors and authors are placed on the public payroll. In Long's case, he had C.E.W. Bean, an insuperable mentor to guide and emulate. Nevertheless, it should be noted that his predecessor's monumental history of the First Australian Imperial Force (AIF) gathered dust in libraries and Returned Services League (RSL) clubs until the late 1960s.2 Two days before Pearl Harbour, the War Cabinet considered proposals for an Official History of Australia's role in World War II. The submission of 14 November 1941 was completed by a Committee chaired by Collings, and included the Navy Minister, Drakeford, the Minister for the Army, Forde, the Postmaster-General, Ashley and the 'about to retire' Charles Bean. After consultation with General Blarney, the committee recommended that materials should immediately be collected, that there should only be one series, that collectors and historians might confer, and that Bean be replaced as soon as possible.3 The Japanese onslaught naturally delayed matters. History was all very well but others rather than White Australians might well have written it. Yet, on 4 August 1942, after the battles of Coral Sea and Midway, but before Buna and Kokoda, Cabinet approved the proposition that the Australian War Memorial, not the Departments of Defence or the Prime Minister, should be the home of the 'new history', that the Committee could nominate the editor of the series, prepare the scheme and spend up to ?2,000 per annum.4 On 25 November 1942, the Committee unanimously recommended the appointment of war correspondent and journalist, Gavin Long, son of the Bishop of Newcastle, who had close family and religious ties to Charles Bean. Long became General Editor on 30 January 1943 at a salary of ?1,500 per annum.5 Considering the somewhat chaotic and difficult chronicling of Australia's participation in World War II, and with Australian service personnel spread from Murmansk to Moresby, from Hobart to Melville Island, Long did his job well.6